First Flyover

“First Flyover” (2003)

Muralist: Dan Sawatzky

Location: W. 5th St. at Locust St

In the fall of 1910, Sterling residents looked up and saw something few had ever witnessed before: an airplane flying overhead. The pilot was Eugene Ely of Davenport, Iowa, a self-taught aviator and member of the Glen Curtiss Exhibition Team. Like many early barnstormers, he traveled from town to town showing people that powered flight was real. His plane arrived by railroad boxcar, was assembled in just 55 minutes, and after the flight it was packed up and moved on again.

This mural celebrates the wonder of firsts. It captures the moment aviation changed from distant possibility to something visible in Sterling’s own sky.